Airborne satellite orbital simulator

Abstract

Here discloses an apparatus for evaluating the ground terminal antenna and simulating satellite orbital trajectory using at least one unmanned aerial vehicle configured to emulate satellite movement based on a pseudo satellite trajectory. Apparatus encompasses a base station for establishing telemetry with a ground terminal antenna and said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle on a flight path designed for a planned scenario of a satellite. The base station is configured to process the telemetry data and perform one or more measurements based on a set of operational angles and target direction of said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle on the flight in relation to providing the orbital trajectory simulation of the satellite with respect to the planned scenario. One or more measurements comprise an offset measurement based on the set of operational angles of the ground terminal antenna in relation to the target direction of said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle; and a tracking accuracy measurement based on the set of operational angles of the ground terminal antenna and target direction of said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle following the flight path for a time period.

1 . An apparatus for performing one or more measurements of ground terminal antenna using at least one unmanned aerial vehicle configured to emulate satellite movement based on a pseudo satellite trajectory, the apparatus comprising:
 a base station for establishing telemetry with a ground terminal antenna and said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle on a flight path designed for a planned scenario of a satellite, the base station is configured to process the telemetry data and perform one or more measurements thereon, based on a set of operational angles and target direction of said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle on the flight path, in relation to providing satellite orbital trajectory simulation with respect to the planned scenario; and   wherein said one or more measurements comprise 1) an offset measurement based on the set of operational angles of the ground terminal antenna in relation to the target direction of said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle; and 2) a tracking accuracy measurement based on the set of operational angles of the ground terminal antenna and target direction of said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle following the flight path for a time period.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said one or more measurements are used for making an assessment of the ground terminal antenna with respect to one or more of: target identification, target locking, target tracking, target tracking in one or more angular areas, and target performance meeting a degree of accuracy across an angular area. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the planned scenario comprises a satellite on an elliptical orbit, a satellite at launch, a satellite conducting operations following launch, a satellite deorbiting, a satellite situated to avoid collision, a satellite malfunctioning and not transmitting, a satellite signal traversing various atmospheric conditions, and a scenario of intentional satellite jamming. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the base station is configured to evaluate offset and tracking accuracy of the ground terminal antenna in relation to said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle based on said one or more measurements. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the offset measurement comprises angle measures offset from the set of operational angles for the ground terminal antenna. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the pseudo satellite trajectory is stored on the base station as a pseudo satellite dataset representative of satellite orbital elements. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the pseudo satellite trajectory is applied to direct said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle on the flight path. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the ground terminal antenna is configured to track said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle using a pseudo satellite dataset of the pseudo satellite trajectory and based on signal received at the ground terminal antenna. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , when tracking said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle based on signal received at the ground terminal antenna, the set of operational angles of the ground terminal antenna is measured and collected. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the set of operational angles is measured mechanically with respect to the ground terminal antenna. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising: performing an evaluation of the ground terminal antenna that is a Communication On-The-Move antenna, wherein the evaluation is based on: 1) the Communication On-The-Move antenna is compensating for motion; 2) the Communication On-The-Move antenna is keeping track toward a target direction; and 3) the Communication On-The-Move antenna is able to stop emission when pointing error exceeds an error threshold. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the ground terminal antenna is configured to track said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle that changes a direction with respect to the ground terminal antenna as a function of time, and, wherein the pseudo satellite trajectory is generated based on one or more orbital parameters. 
     
     
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         14 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle comprises a radio frequency payload coupled to said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle with a mechanical or electrical pointing mechanism. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the flight path is a guided flight path that enables real-time control of said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle through the base station. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a local positioning system coupled to the base station, wherein the local positioning system is configured to obtain the a state of said at least one unmanned aerial vehicle; and   a receiving system comprises a measurement component, wherein the receiving system is configured to process a signal from the ground terminal antenna or at least one unmanned aerial vehicle using the measurement component.   
     
     
         17 . (canceled) 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the measurement component is a spectrum analyzer, a power meter, an SDR, one or more signal measurement devices, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising: a motion emulator configured to emulate surface motion of the ground terminal antenna, wherein the ground terminal antenna is a Communication On-The-Move antenna;
 or wherein the ground terminal antenna is a Communication On-The-Move antenna situated on a moving vehicle.   
     
     
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         37 . A computer-implemented method of obtaining measurements taken with respect to one or more unmanned aerial vehicles, the method comprising:
 performing an offset measurement using data collected from said one or more unmanned aerial vehicles to determine the angular offset for a ground terminal antenna corresponding to the target direction of said one or more unmanned aerial vehicles, wherein the offset measurement is dependent on a set of operational angles of the ground terminal antenna; and/or   performing a tracking accuracy measurement with respect to the ground terminal antenna using said one or more unmanned aerial vehicles based on the trajectory of each unmanned aerial vehicle projecting an orbital trajectory of a satellite, wherein tracking accuracy measurement evaluates whether the ground terminal antenna can track the target satellite with time.   
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , further comprising:
 performing a handover test to determine whether an intended satellite handover is executed between satellites emulated using at least two unmanned aerial vehicles assigned to generate an intended satellite constellation for a time period.   
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the method is performed by the apparatus configured according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
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